Wave Power | AWS Ocean Energy

There have been a range of proposed wave power demonstration projects announced in the last 12 months using an array of newly developed devices – a list of the devices have been included at the end of this post.

AWS Ocean Energy have been developing their own device – called the Archimedes Waveswing energy system – and are continuing to move towards deploying a mini wave farm in 2009. Giving the project a welcome injection of capital is an investment in the company by Shell Technology Ventures Fund (STV Fund).

The Archimedes Waveswing (AWS) prototype has been deployed at Orkney’s European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) where the 250kW capacity device has been tested.

The AWS energy converter works by receiving waves into an air-filled upper casing which moves against a lower fixed cylinder. The up and down movement is then converted into electricity. This is done by a hydraulic system and motor-generator set. The AWS is a cylinder shaped buoy that is fixed to the seabed. An image of the AWS device can be seen on the AWS Ocean Energy website.

AWS Ocean Energy hopes to have the prototype installed by the 2nd quarter 2009 and work on a commercial demonstration wave farm (so far quoted as “multi-MW”) started in 2010.